An army veteran who spent entire weeks building sculptures in tribute to NHS frontline workers "felt sick" when they were inadvertently mistaken for fly-tipped items and removed.
Former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Martin Feeney had built a series of metal installations as a way of commemorating the hard work of NHS staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He told the BBC he felt "violated" when he discovered his work had been removed by the council from a roundabout in Radstock, Somerset.
The sculptures - blue silhouettes of a nurse clutching a red heart - had been on Frome Road since June after obtaining permission to install them, his wife Andrea said.
According to the BBC, Rupert Bevan, Mayor of Radstock, said a council worker "thought they had been abandoned" and had taken "them home for safekeeping".
Mr Feeney's wife Andrea said her husband, who teaches blacksmithing at Army Engineering College in Lyneham, "felt sick" when he learnt they had been removed.
"We had over 300 messages asking where they were and saying 'we want them back'," she said.
"How on earth they thought they were fly-tipped heavens only knows, but Martin is over the moon they're back and we're absolutely delighted."
Bath and North East Somerset Council has since apologised for the "error".
Councillor David Wood was quoted saying the artwork was taken away by the local authority's team as fly-tipped items were being removed from the area.
It has since been returned to its original setting.
